[fic] je_wakamono 2015: Welcome to Pixie Hollow (PG-15) (Reply)

Title: Welcome to Pixie HollowPairing/Characters: Kitayama/TotsukaRating: PG-15Warnings: I’m probably not as sorry as I should be but I turned them into fairies… or well, “sparrow men” as male fairies are called in the Tinker Bell verse. :xWord Count: 2381 wordsNotes: Written for the wonderful defiancebyfire. This is based off of Disney’s Tinker Bell movies (trailer for the first movie here). There are books too but let’s not get into that. (=_=;) I know it’s a little different from the usual AU themes, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Also, a big thank you to snowqueenofhoth for not just being my beta but for also introducing me to these movies.Summary: If you head toward the second star on your right and fly straight until morning, you’ll come to Never Land. Follow the sound of tinkling bells and there you’ll find Pixie Hollow, the home of hundreds of fairies and sparrow men. Some grow flowers and others can bend light, but there are as many talents as there are things to do in Pixie Hollow. Totsuka is a scrib-talent and this is what happens when he meets a certain food-loving storm-talent.original post

It’s late at night and Totsuka is alone in the library. As a scribe-talent, he spends the majority of his waking hours here in the library but it is only late at night like this that he can really enjoy being with the books he loves. In the quiet of the library, he flits up the shelves trying to decide which volume he’ll read tonight.

“Cooking? No. Dustology… not tonight. Gardening… no. Ah. History sounds good,” he decides and moves one of the bookworms out of the way with a small tsk. He pulls out the thick volume entitled The History of the Fairies before looking down at the sheepish looking bookworm, part of a page still sticking out the corner of his mouth. “I hope you haven’t eaten all the good parts.”

He flutters back down and settles himself into his favorite reading chair. He fixes a glowworm into a better position above him and opens to the first page. They say that when the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies…

Totsuka is only a few pages in when he first hears it. At first, he’s not sure what it is, but when he listens more closely, it sounds like a moan. He tries to ignore it, hoping that either he’s wrong or that it will go away soon. Whoever it is, it sounds like they’re really enjoying themselves, but just as Totsuka wonders if he should maybe ask whoever it is to move on to a more private setting, the sounds stop.

“Just as well,” he tells himself and settles back down.

But a few nights later, it happens again. And again the following night. And again the night after. Confrontation may not be one of Totsuka’s personality traits but even he has to admit that this is a bit ridiculous. While he doesn’t want to interrupt other fairies and their sexual escapades, he also doesn’t want to hear them on a regular basis so the next time it happens, he sets down his book and gets up to find the culprit. “I’ll just ask them to move along,” he decides. “They probably don’t even realize they can be heard.”

He follows the sounds out the library. He starts heading towards the bathing branches, but then, realizing that the sounds are getting softer, he heads back the way he came and down the spiraling staircase to the space directly below the library. Pushing open the doors to the dark and empty Tea Room, the sounds get louder still. He crosses the large spaces slowly, past the empty chairs and tables, inching closer towards the kitchens which appear to be the source of the sounds.

Just outside the doors connecting the fairies’ main eating space and the kitchens, Totsuka is not so sure anymore. Now that he can clearly hear the moaning, he has a pretty good idea which sparrow man is making them. Totsuka had been present for Kitayama’s Arrival, the moment a baby’s laughter reaches Pixie Hollow and becomes a fairy (or in this case, sparrow man), but they’d only been introduced briefly so while Totsuka knows who the storm-talent is, there’s no reason for him to remember Totsuka.

Even so… Taking a deep breath, Totsuka bursts into the kitchen and trying to sound firm says, “Kitayama!”

The sparrow man in question turns toward him blinking.

Totsuka stares, takes in what is happening. He blinks back. “Wait. What?”

The scene before him is not at all what he thought it’d be. There sits Kitayama at one of the kitchen counters, alone, and with half of what appears to be a sandwich. Totsuka looks around, confused and not at all sure what to do next. “Uh…”

“Can I… help you?” Kitayama asks, still looking confused as to what Totsuka is doing, barging in the way he has.

“Sorry,” Totsuka says, edging back towards the door. “I thought I heard something… Well. Never mind. I’ll be on my way now.”

“Raspberry?” Totsuka says, lowering down onto the stool across from Kitayama’s. He has no idea what he’s choosing fruits for, but watches curiously as Kitayama breezes around the kitchen opening cabinets and picking out dishes and bowls, mixing up ingredients all together in a bowl, and slicing bread. “…but you’re not a kitchen-talent.”

Kitayama chuckles. “Nope. I’m a storm-talent through and through, but I like to eat and the kitchen fairies aren’t always around when I get hungry. There we are,” he says, placing a platter of bread slices and what appears to be a raspberry spread in front of Totsuka. “Keep me company.”

He’s a bit hesitant to eat things not made by the kitchen-talents, but it looks good and he’s happy that Kitayama’s gone through the trouble to make him something. Plus, he figures that if Kitayama makes all those noises from eating something he’s made himself, it has to be pretty good. Totsuka breaks off a piece of bread, scoops up some of the fruit spread, and pops it into his mouth. He looks at Kitayama in surprise. “This is delicious! Are you sure you’re not a kitchen-talent!?”

Totsuka isn’t at all expecting his breath to catch when Kitayama’s eyes brighten, clearly pleased by the praise.

Thankfully, Kitayama doesn’t seem to notice at all and lowers back down onto his own stool. He picks his sandwich back up. “So… do I call you Totsuka or Shota?”

“Almost everyone just calls me ‘Tottsu’,” he says. He concentrates on breathing and getting his heart rate back to normal. “But you can call me whatever you like,” he adds awkwardly.

“Tottsu huh? You can call me whatever you want too.”

“Even your first name?” Totsuka asks. He’s always liked the sound of it, but never hears anyone use it.

Kitayama shrugs. “Sure.”

“I’ll call you Hiromitsu then.”

“Okay Tottsu. I didn’t think anyone would be up at this hour,” Kitayama comments before taking a bite of his sandwich. It’s no where near as loud a moan as he’d been making before, but Kitayama still lets out a happy hum and Totsuka has to shake himself to prevent himself from staring. Kitayama clearly enjoys his food and it’s incredibly distracting.

He averts his gaze to the raspberry spread. “That’s why I like reading late at night. Not many people around.”

He enjoys their conversation, but when they finish up, Totsuka expects that to be the end of it.

Which is why he’s surprised when the following evening, Kitayama pops into the library and asks if he wants to go down to the kitchens with him. He shows up again the following night and then it becomes a bit of a routine for them. Totsuka tells himself that Kitayama just doesn’t like to eat by himself, but then he starts visiting the library during the day too, and Totsuka feels himself start to hope.

He knows he really shouldn’t, but it’s there anyway. In an attempt to counteract whatever feelings seem to be developing, he tries to think of things that he doesn’t like.

For example, the way Kitayama always seems to be in Totsuka’s favorite reading chair. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he were curled up reading a book, but that just brings him to his second point. He doesn’t particularly like how Kitayama uses the library as a napping space. It’s beyond him why Kitayama won’t just go to his own room if he’s so tired. Libraries are a place of knowledge and should be treated with respect… even though this means he gets to see how cute Kitayama’s sleeping face is and hear the moment Kitayama’s breathing evens ou—

NO. He stops himself from going along with that train of thought.

He doesn’t approve of Kitayama taking naps in the library, he recaps. Still though, Totsuka knows that those days are still better than ones when Kitayama tries to bring food into the library. The first time was a boysenberry roll, which didn’t make a mess and was devoured before Totsuka could say anything, but the time after that was a pumpernickle muffin and Totsuka had to put his foot down, asking the storm-talent to please eat the crumbly treat outside, away from his precious books.

Not that he didn’t stay with him outside the library while Kitayama enjoyed said pumpernickle muffin the way he enjoys all his food. Kitayama even split it with him.

Totsuka shakes his head with a sigh, having a hard time ignoring the warmth that he feels in his chest when he thinks about the way Kitayama smiled at him as they shared the muffin. He’s fighting a losing battle and he knows it.

Days and weeks pass. They go get late night snacks together and Kitayama curls up in the library to take naps while Totsuka pours over his books. Totsuka wonders if things will stay the way they are so long as he doesn’t act on his feelings. He views it like a magic spell. The moment Kitayama finds out is the moment everything will shatter and break.

He doesn’t talk about it since he’s already decided not to do anything about it, but his closest friends know him well enough that they figure it out anyway.

Tsukada is the most blunt.

“You should just tell him,” Tsukada says. The tinker-talent has come to the library with a contraption that’s supposed to prevent the bookworms from getting at some of the rarer volumes.

“Hmm?” Totsuka watches patiently while Tsukada fiddles with his contraption, long used to his inventions… and the consequences of them. He’s thankful that his friend continues to make things for him and the other scribe-talents, but every time Tsukada brings something along, Totsuka secretly just hopes this one doesn’t damage any of the books.

“Kitayama!”

“It’s better that I don’t,” he replies in a matter-of-fact manner.

“But why not? I bet he likes you t—” Tsukada seems to have more to say on the topic, but at that moment his contraption springs open, sending pieces shooting in all directions. “Whoops!”

They don’t revisit the topic after that, too busy flying all over the library retrieving parts, for which Totsuka is thankful.

Goseki is a little more subtle.

“You know,” he says, voice casual. “I’ve never seen him share food with anyone before you…not even when asked. I think that says something.”

This makes him stop and think more than Tsukada’s straight forwardness had. Kitayama loved to eat, but even so, had always been more than willing to share…or at least that’s what Totsuka had thought. If he really is the only one Kitayama shares his food with, then Goseki might be right. That might mean something. He’d decided that not to risk the friendship, but maybe, just maybe…

In the end though, it’s Kitayama who fixes everything.

Totsuka is reading in his favorite chair when Kitayama shows up, but when he gets up to grab a different book, he comes back to find Kitayama in his chair, eyes closed clearly ready to take a nap.

“Hiromitsu, really! I was sitting there!” he exclaims, the book he’s picked heavy in one hand as he pulls at Kitayama with his other. “There are sofas right there!”

Kitayama just snuggles down deeper into the the chair, refusing to budge. “I want to be in this one. None of the sofas smell like you.”

Totsuka stops. “W-what?”

“This chair. It smells like you,” Kitayama repeats, opening his eyes to look at Totsuka, watching for his reaction. “I haven’t been clear, but I like you. A lot.”

Book dropping to his side, Totsuka sinks to the floor so that they’re eye-level. His chest feels ready to burst and he feels so light from relief. “I like you too. A lot,” he adds with a grin.

Their relationship grows from there, into a very comfortable and stable one. Kitayama still brings Totsuka down to the kitchens with him at odd hours of the night. Totsuka still loves to watch Kitayama enjoy his food. And Kitayama still comes to the library to take his naps...only now, he can be found stretched out on one of the sofas, head pillowed in Totsuka’s lap while the scribe-talent pages through a book.

“I was thinking about you this morning,” Totsuka murmurs one day. He sets his book aside and runs his fingers through Kitayama’s soft hair.

Kitayama leans into his touch. “That’s not new. You think about me every morning.”

That gets a soft chuckle out of him. “Yes, but more specifically Hiromitsu, I was thinking about how this all started. Do you remember?”

“How could I forget?” Kitayama laughs, eyes opening and filled with amusement. “You came rushing through the kitchen doors like there was a fire!”

“I actually thought I was going to be barging in on you having sex. It sure sounded like it,” he says and laughs at how affronted Kitayama is by this. “Do you have any idea what you sound like when you eat? You restrain yourself when there are other people around, but for a whole week I could hear you all the way from here in the library!”

“Delicious food is delicious,” Kitayama says in his defense. “And deserves to be appreciated!”

Totsuka smiles at the memory. “I was so confused when I saw you there with just your sandwich. So embarrassing! Although I guess I can’t argue with the results.”

“No. I guess we can’t.” Kitayama’s eyes are warm with affection as he reaches up to brush fingers across Totsuka’s cheeks. “Hey. Wanna head down to the kitchens?”

“Hungry already? Hiromitsu, you just had dinner,” he admonishes, but he gets up to follow him out of the library. Kitayama just laughs and grabs his hand to pull him along faster.

And when Kitayama knows to make him that same raspberry spread from that night they’d first met in the kitchens, Totsuka knows it’s love.